seven years in a row,” this is a guideline of the Industrial Structure Council of the Ministry of the Economy, and is the top-ranking in the world.

The final disposal volume of steel by-products in fiscal 2007 rose to 750 thousand tons, with an increase of about 60 thousand tons compared to the preceding year. Concerning iron and steel slag, which is the greater part of the by-products, infrastructure development for recycling use has been implemented, such as by installation of the JIS standard and assignment as a specified procurement item based on the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing. By making use of these results, cultivation of further demand has been promoted and recycling of dust and sludge within steel factories has been further promoted. Moreover, further recycling endeavors have been promoted, including the continued research and development on use in sea areas for achievement of the reduced target.

## (2) Cement manufacturing industry

The cement industry, by making the most use of cement manufacturing processes, has accepted various wastes and by-products from other businesses, such as the iron and steel industry (various types of slag), the electric utility industry (desulfurization plaster), the construction industry (construction waste soil), the tire industry (scrap tires), the metal casting industry (casting sand), and the local municipal entity (sewage sludge and incineration ash). In fiscal 2007, the acceptance of about 30.72 million tons of wastes and by-products was achieved. The industry contributes to the saving of natural resources, to the prolonged continuation of Final Disposal Sites and energy conservation and carbon dioxide reduction throughout all of Japan by making use of them as raw materials and an energy substitute in cement manufacturing. The amount of energy used for disposal can be decreased for example, by recycling sewage sludge for cement material rather than by incinerating in a specialized furnace and dumping the ashes. Additionally in a cement factory, a project is now underway which uses the wastes from ordinary households as a cement raw material, and this could contribute to the reduction of carbon dioxide accompanying incineration.

## (3) Construction industry

In the construction industry, the approaches and systems based on the Construction Material Recycling Act have been promoted in a positive manner, because of the high proportion of construction waste accounting for the generation and the final disposal volume of Industrial Waste.

Construction waste has different characteristics from general wastes, because construction work takes place in a temporary construction site and the type generated and the volume of waste generation differs at each site. Therefore, the Construction Nine Groups By-Products Counter-measures Conference has been originally preparing and using the Common Articles of Agreement and Manifest so that it is suitable for the characteristics of the construction industry.

Moreover, although the recycling of asphalt·concrete mass and concrete mass have been considerably promoted for efficient use of resources and establishment of a sound material-cycle society, it is expected the industry is expecting to further promote the recycling of waste wood, mixed waste, polluted sludge, waste plaster board and waste plastics generated by construction.

## (4) Electric Power Industry

The amount of waste generation of the electric power industry in fiscal 2007 was 10.62 million tons, an increase on the previous year. On the other hand, the amount of recycling of the waste in the same year was 10.3 million tons with an increase on the previous year. As a result, the recycling ratio was 97%, which exceeded the target ratio of 95% continuing from the previous year, the final disposal volume of industrial waste remained at the same level.

The industry will “Try to achieve a recycling ratio of

## Column Figure 6 Electric Power Industry

Source: The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan